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ALERT: Niger Delta Projects Listed Among Buhari's 'Achievements' Are 'Nowhere To Be Found'

December 13, 2018

"I seriously think President Muhammadu Buhari is not aware of what is going on in Bayelsa State because what the Presidency listed as part of its achievements in the Niger Delta is just a figment of someone's imagination... The agricultural loans, fertilisers, rural road projects, empowerment schemes, awarded by Buhari to Bayelsa, are not being effected. There are no named Bayelsans that are beneficiaries of such programmes."

Ijaw youth leaders from the nine states of the Niger Delta region have challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to probe some ministers from the region over alleged non-execution of federal projects awarded by his administration.

According to the youth, the projects listed by President Muhammad Buhari as part of his administration's achievements, while commendable, are nowhere to be found.

The leaders, under the auspices of the Ijaw Unity and Peace Committee (IUPC), lamented that some of the projects listed as Buhari's achievements in Bayelsa State, for instance, are not in the state.

They threatened to carry out massive protests against the "diversion of projects". The leaders particularly said projects awarded to Bayelsa under the Federal Ministries of Agriculture and Niger Delta Affairs were not being implemented.

In a statement made available to newsmen on Wednesday in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, Apostle Bodmas Kemepadei, the convener of the group, lamented the underdevelopment in the region, stating that there were persons within the presidency working against the present administration.

Kemepadei, who is also the leader of Egbesu Brotherhood, said contrary to claims that there were rural road projects in Bayelsa as part of Buhari's achievements in the Niger Delta, nothing of such could be found anywhere in the state.

He also said claims by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs that the Federal Government constructed a cassava processing plant in Bayelsa were false and misleading.

"I seriously think President Muhammadu Buhari is not aware of what is going on in Bayelsa State because what the Presidency listed as part of its achievements in the Niger Delta is just a figment of someone's imagination," he said.

"It is only in the media that we read of projects awarded to Bayelsa by his administration, but in reality this is not true. Those representing Buhari in the state are deceiving him; they are not reporting the true situation of things. We have nothing to show as benefits from the present administrations. The agricultural loans, fertilisers, rural road projects, empowerment schemes, awarded by Buhari to Bayelsa, are not being effected. There are no named Bayelsans that are beneficiaries of such programmes.

"This is not only painful, but wicked. How can Buhari be awarding to projects, releasing funds, yet nothing is happening?

"It is on this note that we are bent on staging this protest. We want the Presidency to be aware and discipline whosoever that may be involved in the diversion of Bayelsa projects. The date for the protest will be made public very soon. No individual has the monopoly to cart away with public properties."

Topics
Niger Delta